New House Blog: Episode VIIII - Electrification

Welcome to Episode VIIII - Electrification.  Once again you will notice my use of the less-common-but-still-valid Roman Numeral notation.  And that's all I'm going to say about that.  Also, once again, you will notice that it has been several days since the last Episode.  This is because of the increase in actual house-work time that has left less time for blogging about housework.  Keep checking back, because our update schedule is not set and updates could appear at any time.

This Episode deals mainly with electricity and electrical components.  Our house, being over 40 years old, had some old-fashioned two-prong outlets, and it only had one GFCI outlet in one bathroom.  Modern-day houses and apartments have no two-prong outlets, and they usually have at least one GFCI outlet in each bathroom.  Being the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) types, we decided to modernize and upgrade these outlets ourselves.  That being said, we did all/most of the electrical outlet changing after consulting with one of our electrician brothers, Mike.  His advice was, and is continuing to be, most valuable to us.  We do have a few things to cover before getting to the outlets, though.  

Spigots

We replaced a leaky hose-spigot in our back yard with a shiny new non-leaky hose-spigot.  Note the use of plumber's tape.

Doorstops

Our house was mostly lacking in doorstops.  This was a problem, because doorknobs had hit walls, and holes and dents had been made.  Here you can see the worst of the damage - the door to what will be Mark's office had at some point made a complete hole in the wall.  Evidence at the scene suggests that it may have been patched in the past and this may be a second hole.  We will discuss the patching of holes in a later Episode.

A plastic plate does not a proper patch make

The full extent of the damage behind the plastic plate

This is what the damage looked like initially.  Note the attempt at hiding the hole.

Here is that same hole with the camouflage removed.

To prevent more doorknob-related holes in our walls we installed doorstops on all of the doors that did not have them and were is a position to potentially cause holes and/or dents.  Here is a picture of one of the doorstops.  Note that it is a generic spring-type doorstop, the kind that cats like to play with.  We're only showing you one doorstop because they all look alike.

This is the front door's doorstop.

Electrification

Now we charge on to the main event.  Before we go any further, we must advise and admonish you that before you do any electrical work be sure that the appropriate breakers/fuses are turned off.  All of our  electrical work has been done only after turning off the appropriate breakers.  That said, on to the work we did.  

In our master bedroom we swapped out all four (yes there are only four electrical outlets, with two plugs each) outlets with brand-new tamper-resistant 3-prong grounded outlets.  In our bathrooms we swapped out all of the outlets with brand new GFCI outlets.  In the garage and kitchen we swapped out a few outlets with recessed outlets.  This was done mainly because the old outlets were poorly mounted.  

Tamper-resistant, in this case, means that the plugs each have a plastic piece inside that blocks the holes until something is plugged in.  The idea is that this will make it harder for young children to accidentally stick things into electrical outlets.  We don't have any kids, but it still seemed like a good idea.  

GFCI stands for Ground Fault Circuit Interruptor.  It is an electrical outlet with a built-in breaker.  Typically they are used in bathrooms, or other places where water and electricity are in close proximity.  The ones in our apartment have red and black buttons.  The ones in our house have white buttons.  Here is a link to an article that describes them in more depth.

Behold, a cavalcade of outlets.

A brand-new grounded outlet being installed

A typical outlet after installation

If you look closely you should be able to see the plastic inside the prong-holes.

















Notice the beautiful texture of the wall behind this outlet.

A typical GFCI outlet

A relocated recessed outlet

A recessed outlet in the garage

This outlet was relocated on the advice of brother Mike.  Can you spot where it used to be?

As you might have guessed, this outlet is located in a section of wall that was repaired at some point in the past.  That is not genuine drywall tape, however.  We may add proper drywall tape and joint compound at some future date.

The Burning Question

We thought we'd conclude this electrifying Episode with something truly shocking, and yet another surprise from this old house.  What you see below is what you do not want to find when you open up your electrical outlet.  

The box and romex

The outlet

You see all of the black inside the box?  That is the result of burning and charring sometime in the past.   The wire-cutting was done by us.  The romex* in the wall outside of the box was undamaged, and we were able to successfully relocate this outlet (it is not, however, the relocated outlet pictured above).  There was no damage visible on the wall around the outlet, but it's possible that any discoloration of the wall was simply painted over.










This is the actual outlet that we pulled from the burned box above.  Again, black = burnt.

The backside of the outlet

The backside of the outlet.

Where there's smoke there's

  bIsh

*Romex, as used here, refers to the 3-wire, plastic-sheathed electrical cable.  Romex is a brand name, but it is also used generically, much like Kleenex or Coke.

New House Blog: Episode VIII - Tenting For Termites

First off, we would like to apologize for the large time gap between Episodes VII and VIII.  It turns out that spending more time actually working on the house leaves less time for writing about working on the house.  That being said, let's move on to the latest (as far as you know) updates.  From this Episode's title you might have surmised that we would be talking about a tent, or tents, of some kind.  And from the previous Episode's closing comments you might have been expecting some sort of dissertation on broom buying in 2012, but you will be disappointed (overjoyed) to learn that said dissertation, due mainly to time constraints, has been whittled down to this: there are a whole lot of brooms to choose from when shopping for a broom.

Also whittled down in this episode are the updates.  In this Episode we will be giving short updates about several projects instead of going on and on about a few projects.  To the updates!

New Teammates

Before we get into actual project updates let's meet the latest additions to our tool teams.  Joining us are Sweepy Junior, a smaller outdoor and garage broom; Gulp, a garage and outdoor dust pan; Pipey, a bright red-orange pipe wrench; Moony, a crescent wrench; Snips, a plant clipper; and Fang, a general-use wood saw.

L to R - Gulp and Sweepy Junior

T to B, L to R - Sweepy Junior, Pipey, Moony, Snips, Fang

Pipey, in particular, was quite useful in the plumbing updates discussed in this Episode.






































Tenting

Are you aware that the Silicon Valley is rich in termites?  Our house was tented for termites recently.  That is to say, our house was covered in a big stripey tent and filled with a poison gas for the purpose of killing the termites already living in the house.  The poison gas used is called Vicane.  We don't know if that's a brand name or a generic name (perhaps someone can look it up for us and let us know via the comments).  It kills all kinds of other things in addition to killing termites (the paperwork we had to sign specifically mentions household cats), but at the concentration used for termite-killing it will not kill spiders (including black widows).  Spider-killing would require a higher concentration of Vicane.  Here is our house under the tent.

Tent view #1

Tent view #2

There is no picture of the house after the tent was removed because it looks pretty much the same as before, and you have already seen the house without the tent.

The house is now safe to enter

Water Heater Repairs

For the record, it's not a hot water heater - it's a water heater.  Ours is fairly new, but two of the pipes were connected poorly and were leaking, and the flue was connected poorly and needed correcting.

The flue - before

 Notice the unneccessary angles and the unstrappedness of the flue.

The flue - after

Now notice the straightness and strappedness of the flue.

One of the old pipe segments

The same pipe segment seen head-on

New piping, sealed and non-drippy

More new piping, also sealed and non-drippy

The white stuff you see on the threads is called plumber's tape, or thread tape, and it is wonderful stuff.

The tools involved in the water heater plumbing repair

Breaker Box

Our breaker box is in the garage, and it is labelled.  The labels aren't very descriptive or complete, but they are mostly there and they are slightly helpful.

Hose Caddie

And finally we finish this Episode with a picture of our new back yard hose caddie.

And that's it for Episode VIII.  Join us again soon for an electrifying discussion about grounded outlets and upgrading to GFCI.

One more thing before we let you go.  Does anyone know where we can get a good, new wood-handled ax?  The Home Depots and OSH's around here only seem to have the plastic/fiberblass-handled axes, and we prefer wood handles on our axes.

Okay, two more things before we let you go.  Thank you, Mike, for your sage advice and suggestions regarding the flue realignment.

Sic semper termites!
    bIsh

New House Blog: Episode VII - Dish And Diswhasher

Welcome to Episode VII.  In this Episode we will be taking a look at some rooftop items (this is where the dish was), seeing what the space behind the dishwasher looks like, and learning about yet another surprise.  A roof can be an interesting place.  It's up high, it's slanty, it gets really hot to the touch, it gives good views, and sometimes you can find things that have been lost by other people.  Our roof is an asphalt shingle roof with an estimated remaining life of about 30 years.  It is one part of the house that doesn't need any work at all at this point.  We assume it doesn't leak, but we won't know for sure until it rains again in 6 months.  The first parts of this episode deal with repairs that took place on the roof, but not to the roof itself.

Before we get into the actual events we would like to take a moment to note that although the events are presented in generally chronological order (we can't very well post about things that haven't yet happened) some events may not be in specific chronological order - sometimes they are grouped by type or alliteration.

Dish

Despite being over 40 years old our house came with a dish on the roof.  No, it was not an actual DISH brand dish, nor can we be sure it was even a satellite dish, but it was a dish of some sort, and it needed to come down before the termite tenting could commence (remember how we said that termites are very popular in the Silicon Valley?).  Our friend, Dave (mentioned previously in this post) was at the house helping us with some of the work, and he assisted in the removal of the dish.* (that asterisk means you should check for further explanation at the end of the post)  He didn't actually get up on the roof, but he did act as a spotter, and he did hand up tools and things and take them back down.

Below is a picture of the dish as it was when we took possession of the house.

The dish, before removal

With Dave acting as spotter and ladder stabilizer we climbed onto the roof and trudged up the semi-steep incline to the chimney, for this is what the dish was fastened to.  After some serious wrenching with an 11mm box wrench, the mangled metal mess was free of its harness and the entire assembly, including cables, was handed down to Dave.  The straps that were wrapped around the chimney were hurled unceremoniously to the ground.  Here is the chimney after the dish removal.  Note the unpainted stripes where the straps used to be.

Yup, it's a chimney

Caulking

Also done while we were on the roof was a bit of chimney flashing caulking. What is chimney flashing?  Basically, it's metal plating at the base of the chimney that helps to....well.....we're not really sure what it does, but we think it has to do with sealing the roof and keeping rain and other stuff from entering into the house.  Perhaps someone with more chimney knowledge can leave a comment with a better explanation.  Our chimney flashing needed a very minor repair - some of the caulking had cracked, which left a nice opening for rain and other stuff to enter the house.  We used some roof-flashing-specific caulking and sealed up the crack.  Since this caulking is on the roof and no one will see it, we didn't feel the need to make it look pretty.  As long as it keeps things sealed we're happy with it.  See it below.

It ain't pretty, but it should keep stuff out

Dishwasher

Another item Dave helped us with was the removal of the old, non-functioning dishwasher.  Actually, he did the majority of the work on that while we were outside clearing out excess vegetation.  We're not completely clear on everything Dave had to do to prep the dishwasher for removal, but once he did whatever he did it seemed to come out without too much hassle.  We had to disconnect 1 rubber hose and 1 copper tube, and we had to cut the power cord (yes it was unplugged first).  A lot of interesting things were discovered behind the dishwasher, and by, "interesting," I mean filthy, nasty things.  Fortunately, the house will be cleaned in a couple of days, so we're not too concerned about said "interesting" things.  We put the dishwasher out in the driveway area and a company picked it up and hauled it away for a small fee.  Here's a picture of the hole where the dishwasher was.

Note the copper tube

How many different things can you identify in the picture?


















Surprise Again

This house keeps surprising us.  Well, not so much the house as some of the things the previous owners did or didn't do.  As we were clearing out excess vegetation (and Dave was wrestling with the dishwasher inside) we discovered some wood planks buried in the dirt right by the front door (did I mention yet that there are termites around here).  This was not the surprise, although we do wonder what the wood-buriers were thinking.  Also buried by the front door was a kitchen knife of some sort.  How it ended up there, and why, we don't necessarily want to know.  Sadly, it was too beat-up and unsharp to be of any use to us.

Rusty and dull

Despite the impressive-looking pose, the knife really was not sharp.












New Team Members

And now for a special bonus before we end this Episode.  Today we introduce two new team members - Sweepy and Scoop.  Here is a picture.  Can you tell which is which?  Both of them availed themselves nicely on their first day of use.

Left to Right, Scoop and Sweepy

That wraps it up for this Episode.  Be sure to join us next time as we discuss termites, tenting, and some other stuff (you might even read a short dissertation on broom-choosing in 2012).

It has walls and a roof.  What more could you
   bIsh

* Side Note: In case you're wondering, although he has been mentioned in two episodes, Dave has only been to our house once, so the events in which he appears all took place on the same day.

New House Blog: Episode VI - The Battle Of The Stump

Welcome to a particularly action-packed Episode, where you will hear the thrilling tale of The Battle Of The Stump.  Along the way you will be introduced to the heroes of the battle and hear the thrilling tale of action and intrigue (action, anyway - not sure about the intrigue).  But before we get to the glorious battle we will share the story of our trip to the Sanitary Landfill (formerly known as the dump).

The Sanitary Landfill

It started out as most days, with the rising of the sun.  We did not get up with the rising of the sun, but the day started anyway.  We eventually got up and, driving a truck borrowed from my awesome brother, Mike, went to our house to haul away the pile of debris (as seen in this post) for good.  The pile was a mixture of mostly wood, with some PVC, some galvanized pipe (I got to use an electric pipe cutter), some concrete, some barbed wire, a muffler, a rusty barbecue grill, and some other miscellaneous stuff.  We loaded the truck and set off for the Zanker Road Sanitary Landfill (it is the closest landfill to the house).  Here is a picture of the loaded truck just inside the entrance to the landfill, in the de-tarping area.

After de-tarping we drove up to the weigh/inspection station and waited for the attendant to grant us access.  It was a tense few seconds as he disinterestedly scrutinized our load, but in the end he let us pass unhindered.  We drove up a short hill, picked an empty spot, and started tossing our junk.  And I do mean tossing.  The rusty barbecue grill did not seem to want to leave us, however.  After being tossed onto the pile it rolled back down to the truck, as if to say, "Don't leave me!"  We ignored its pitiful plea and tossed it even further.  It accepted its fate and made no more attempts to return to us.  

Because of the time, and a full schedule, we did not stay at the landfill to browse for any second-hand items.

The Battle Of The Stump

Before we get to the battle let us introduce you to the three.  Here they are, in picture form.

The three, left to. right: Longspade, Shorty, Spike

You've heard of Longspade ere now in the post about black widows, but the other two are new to this blog.

It started with the debris pile we found on the side of the house.  Of all of the items in the pile the tree stump intrigued me the most.  Second-most intriguing to me was the used muffler.  Back in the corner of two fences stood the tree stump, and we could not tell if it was simply a stump that had been leaned up against the fence or if it was actually a rooted remnant of a tree that used to grow in that spot.  After clearing away the rubble pile we discovered the awful truth - it was the latter, the remnants of a tree that had grown there and had died and been mostly cut down but which still retained its roots.  We knew that a battle was coming, and we gathered the troops - Longspade, Shorty, and Spike.  

The battle began.

The first to be sent in was Longspade, and it fought valliantly in the dirt, probing and exposing some of the roots of the tree.  Next to join the battle was Shorty.  It probed deeper and got into places where Longspade could not fit.  Before continuing the tale I have to ask: am I the only one whose garden tools have names?  Longspade and Shorty continued to probe the stump for additional roots and weaknesses, but ere long they had reached the end of what they could do without further assistance.  We discovered that there were four main roots, much as a compass has four points.  These roots did not line up with the compass points, but they did radiate away from the tree at approximately ninety-degree intevals, as do the four main points on a compass.  Two of the roots were relatively easily accessible, but roots three and four were going to be a challenge.  Into battle charged Spike, and after a brief skirmish we had severed root number one.  The second root put up a stronger fight, but it, too, succumbed to the relentless attack from Spike.  Spike tried to attack root number three, but there was just not enough room between the tree and the fence for Spike to be effective.  The fourth root extended under the other fence and into the front yard.  A new recruit would have to be brought in to the battle. This is how things stood at the end of the first day of battle.  Below is the stump after the first day of battle.

After a day of battle

Sadly, we had to wait an extra day to rejoin the battle, and thusly the second day of battle was actually the third day since the battle had begun.  We borrowed an ax from Mike and returned to the house and the site of battle.  Instead of jumping right in with a direct attack we did some reconnaissance on the front-yard side of the fence and we discovered the location and relative strength of root number three.  Longspade and Shorty were instrumental in said reconnaissance (there's got to be a better way to spell that word).  After some initial probing and weakening from Spike, the ax went into action (it is unnamed because it is borrowed).  The root made a strong defense, but it could not resist the continued blows from the ax.  We now had three of four roots severed and we knew it was just a matter of time before we had conquered all four roots.  Back into the main battlefield in the back yard we went, and the ax's thinner head was able to fit into the narrow space and make short work of root number four.  After that it took but a little twisting and pulling and the stump came free.  Sweet victory!

Below you can see the defeated stump and the borrowed ax that was instrumental in bringing it down. Also to be seen is the fence corner where the stump used to be.

The defeated stump and the victorious ax

The former home of the stump

Our thanks to my awesome brother, Mike, for the use of the truck, the electric pipe cutter, the wheel barrow, and the ax.

Join us again soon for our next exciting adventure.

Anyone got an ax to grind?

   bIsh

New House Blog: Episode V - V For Ventdetta

I know, I know - it's a lousy play on words.  And for those of you who don't understand, don't worry about it - you're not missing much.

On to the venting.  But first, a brief word about formatting.  This blog is composed and previewed in the Chrome browser.  I make sure it looks ok before I publish.  There have been reports, however, that when viewing this blog in the IE browser the formatting is a bit off.  I apologize for this, and my only advice is to use a different browser.  And now a look at our new keys.  With new locks come new keys.  Below is a picture of our new house keys.  Becky is especially proud of her new MonKey.

Venting

Venting.  The venting we're talking about is foundation venting.  Our new old house came with some damaged foundation vent screens, and we have replaced them.  One of them was in the garage, and thus we had access to both sides of it, and one was in another part of the house where we have access only to the outside of it (unless we want to crawl around under the house).  Below you can view some before and after pictures.

The original garage vent, seen from the outside

The new garage vent, seen from the outside

The new garage vent, seen from the inside

The other new vent, seen from the outside

We used a silicone caulk to seal up and secure the vents to the house.  I guess "seal up" is a relative term here, as air can (and sometimes does) pass through the screen material, but varmints will have a harder go of it.

Vendetta?

For the edification of those who have requested and/or complained about not seeing a picture of a black widow in the previous post, we here present a new encounter with a latrodectus mactans, and a picture of said critter only seconds before her swift demise.

As on the previous occasion when the spider appeared, Becky was not with me at our house (Do you notice that they only appear when she is not there?), but our friend, Dave, was there helping with some of the work.  Right by the front door I discovered some wood planks partly buried in the dirt (always a good idea to leave wood planks in the dirt right by wood siding in an area where termites are pandemic), and I commenced with removing said wood planks.  Upon turning one of the wood planks over on the paved walkway, a 'widow appeared.  She was obviously confused by the sudden exposure to direct sunlight and she frantically scurried to and fro in a futile attempt to find shade and darkness.  Immediately I sprang into action and delayed the creature's demise for a few seconds while I whipped out my handy phone and took a couple of pictures (isn't it odd how we no longer consider it strange to take pictures with our phones?).  That was enough of a stay of execution for the fiend, so I quickly and forcefully stepped on it and ended its search for the shade.

l. mactans shortly before death

Keep in mind that this 'widow was smaller than the one that foolishly attempted to intimidate me by being on my neck.  Apparently she had not heard of the death of her evil queen, for she made no attempts to wreak vengeance on me.

Coming soon: the glorious tale of the valorous battle with the tree stump, and daring deeds of the team of three (plus one acting teammate).

Fight we all, for honor and
  bIsh

New House Blog: Episode IIII - Water, Weeds, And Widows

Yes, I know that some people who read this will think me daft, or daffy, for using IIII instead of IV, but I learned long ago that IIII is a proper and valid notation for 4.  There are even some clocks and watches that use IIII instead of IV.

Enough of that - back to the House Blog.  Today we're going to talk about water, weeds, and widows - black widows, to be specific.  Some people may be grossed out already by the mere mention of black widows, and I fully understand that.  If you are one of those people, fear not, for the thrilling tale of my battle with a latrodectus mactans will be presented last, so you may read on in comfort, knowing that when you get to the title of the thrilling tale you can simply stop reading and do something else while you wait with eager anticipation for the next episode.  Onward!

Water

This section isn't really about water, per se; it's about hoses, but "hoses" doesn't start with W, and I wanted a W word, and hoses typically conduct water (which does start with W), so it all fits together and works out somehow.  We have two brand new, green hoses attached to our house's water supply - a 75-footer in front and a 100-footer in the back.  The packaging claims that they are "kink-free," but I discovered that these hoses do indeed kink up if not handled properly.  We also have a shiny new multi-function nozzle attached to each hose.  I had to add a rubber washer to the hose in back so that it would not leak.  Here are the pictures.

The back hose hookup.  Yes, we have two spigots in back.

Look at that nice coiling of the front hose.

The front hose hookup does appear to be a bit complicated, and we haven't figured out what all of the knobs and valves do, yet.
















Weeds

Well, not so much weeds, as weed-killing.  Our house has a lot of weeds, many of which are in places where we would prefer they not be.  To kill them with a minimum of labor we decided to use Roundup weed killer.  It looks good in the TV commercials, and it comes in a cool spray/pump thingy so that you can look like a professional when spraying it.  The pump works really well, and we've had some good results so far.  Below are a few before-and-after pictures.  Can you tell which is which?

Before

After

After

Before

Some of the people who read this will chide us for using Roundup on a plant that is not a weed, but we would remind those people that a weed is what you define it to be.  To us this plant is in the way and is a 
nuisance and is therefore a weed.  

























Widows

Warning: those who do not wish to read about black widows or ferocious battles with same should stop reading here and move on to more productive activities while awaiting the next exciting blog posting.

Warning #2: We did not get any pictures of any black widows.  We were more intent on killing them than on recording them for posterity.

Black widows.  The words alone can be enough to make one shudder and weep.  And it is understandable, as the lactrodectus mactans is one of the more venomous of spiders, and one of the few in North America that can bite a human and make him sick, or worse.  They are quite ugly and creepy, too, and they like to hide in dark, out-of-the-way places, such as wood piles or debris piles or garage corners.  It was in such a garage corner that we encountered the first 'widow.  She was sitting calmly in her web, unafraid to be seen in the open.  Possibly this was because the garage had been closed and deserted for so long before we bought the house and opened the garage door.  There we were, the three of us - Becky, me, and the spider.  I was armed with my trusty long-handled spade (known as a shovel to some of you) and I quickly dispatched the fiend.  But it was not yet over, for we spotted another of the foul beasts calmly sitting in her web along another wall.  She did not know what hit her, so swift was my blade.  There were no further sightings that day.  On the day that we discovered the recycling bin full of bricks (see this post for pictures and info) we encountered one more of the fiendish fouls and one probable foulish fiend (couldn't be 100% sure if one of them was a 'widow or just another spider).  Next to the immovable recycling bin we found the trash bin - covered in webs and looking like a good place for a spider ambush.  I was alone that day, but not alone, for I had with me my trusty RAID and Hotshot (anti-spider spray).  Carefully I opened the lid of the garbage container, I saw that it was full of yard trimmings and dirt, and I spotted the probable fiend.  Immediately, I went into action - first with the Hotshot, then (when it did not seem to affect the spider that much) with the RAID.  One less spider to deal with.  The next fiend came scurrying up to the top of the garbage container.  She spotted me and started to scurry away.  Once again my two friends went into action and once again the 'widow world was deprived of one of their own.  Spiders 0, Bish 4.  So far so good, but we had no idea of the terror that awaited us the next day.

Once again I was alone at the house, and I was starting to clear out the pile of debris we had found (again, see this post for info and pictures) - prime hiding spot for all kinds of creepy-crawly things and certainly home to some l. mactans.  The debris-clearing started out smoothly enough - some random pipes, some PVC, some small pieces of wood - and I was moving on to the deeper, more-embedded planks of wood.  Using my trusty long-spade I carefully started moving some of the planks from atop each other.  Suddenly there burst forth one of the fiendish ghouls and my spade went into action, but I could not be 100% sure of my victory.  The beast disappeared from view and I believe I impaled her, drove her body into the dirt, and clove her in two with my blade, but I didn't see the body.  After that I decided to unleash my two friends (remember RAID and Hotshot?) on the remaining debris (along with some Roundup to kill the overgrown weeds) and I called it a day.  I thought the danger had passed and that the fight was won, but I was wrong, dangerously wrong.

I entered the garage.  The garage door was open and the sunlight was nicely illuminating the scene.  As I was removing my work gloves to put them back on their shelf I felt something moving on my neck.  Instinctively I brushed at my neck with my right hand and what fell to the ground was the biggest, baddest black widow I have ever seen.  It must have been at least 3" across (including legs).  She landed on her feet, like a cat, and she was poised and ready for action.  Oh no!  My trusty blade was nowhere in sight!  I had left it on the back porch, as was my habit, and my two friends were already upon their shelf!  I had to think fast.  Down came my right foot, and in an instant the queen of the evil ones was nothing but a smear on the floor.  How had she gotten onto my neck?  We may never know.

The total, so far, is 4 confirmed and two probable.

You've been warned, spiders - no more Mr. Nice
  bIsh